Standard-type battleship

The Standard-type battleship was a series of thirteen battleships across five classes ordered for the United States Navy between 1911 and 1916 and commissioned between 1916 and 1923. These were considered super-dreadnoughts, with the ships of the final two classes incorporating many lessons from the Battle of Jutland.

Each vessel was produced with a series of progressive innovations, which contributed to the pre–World War I arms race. The twelve vessels commissioned constituted the US Navy's main battle line in the interwar period, while many of the ten earlier dreadnoughts were scrapped or relegated to secondary duties. Restrictions under the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty limited total numbers and size of battleships and had required some under construction to be cancelled, so it was not until the onset of World War II that new battleships were constructed. On December 7, 1941, eight were at Pearl Harbor, one at Bremerton, Washington, and three were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet.

Doctrine
The Standard type, by specifying common tactical operational characteristics between classes, allowed battleships of different classes to operate together as a tactical unit (BatDiv) against enemy battleships. By contrast, other navies had fast and slow battleship classes that could not operate together unless limited to the performance of the ship with slowest speed and widest turning circle. Otherwise the battle line would be split into separate "fast" and "slow" wings. The Standard type was optimized for the battleship-centric naval strategy of the era of their design.

The next US battleship classes, beginning with the North Carolina-class battleship designed in the late 1930s and commissioned in 1941, marked a departure from the Standard type, introducing the fast battleships needed to escort the aircraft carriers that came to dominate naval strategy.

Characteristics
Characteristics of the Standard type included:
 * all-or-nothing armor scheme
 * All main guns on the centerline in fore and aft turrets with no amidships guns
 * designed range of about 8000 nmi at economical cruising speed
 * top speed of 21 kn
 * tactical turn radius of 700 yards

The Colorado-class, the first US battleships to mount 16 in guns, represented the endpoint of the gradual evolution of the "Standard Type" battleships. The Colorado-class battleships were 624 ft long, displaced 32,600 tons, had a top speed of 21 kn, and carried a main battery of eight 16 in guns.

The next planned class of Standard battleships, the never-completed South Dakota-class battleship (1920)s, represented a significant increase in size and armament over the Colorados. They would have been 684 ft long, displaced 43,200 tons, had a top speed of 23 kn, and carried 12 16 in guns. Nonetheless, the design characteristics of the South Dakotas closely followed the standard-type battleship, albeit at a greater scale. Like the Tennessees and Colorados, they were designed with the same bridges, lattice masts and turbo-electric propulsion system and they used the same torpedo protection system as the latter class. Naval historian Norman Friedman described the South Dakotas as the ultimate development of the series of U.S. battleships that began with the Nevada-class battleship, despite the increase in size, speed and intermediate armament from the standard type that characterized the Nevada through Colorado classes.

World War I
All the Standard Type were oil-burning. Since oil was scarce in the British Isles, only Nevada and Oklahoma actively participated in World War I by escorting convoys across the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Britain.

Interwar years
All the Standard Types were modernized during the 1920s and 1930s. The cage masts of all but the Tennessee and Colorado classes were replaced with tripod masts topped with fire-control directors, torpedo tubes were removed and anti-aircraft guns were upgraded. Main battery elevation in the older ships was increased to 30 degrees for greater range. Most of the Standards received anti-torpedo bulges. Each ship received one or two catapults and recovery cranes for operating floatplanes for scouting and gunnery spotting.

World War II
On December 7, 1941, Colorado was undergoing a refit to install new torpedo bulges at Puget Sound Navy Yard, while the three ships of the New Mexico class were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. The remaining eight Standard Type battleships were at Pearl Harbor forming Battleship Row.

During the Pearl Harbor Attack, Arizona's forward magazine exploded from a bomb hit and Oklahoma capsized after multiple torpedo strikes, both with significant losses of life. West Virginia and California were also sunk, while Nevada managed to get underway and was beached shortly afterward. Tennessee and Maryland each received two bomb hits.

Arizona and Oklahoma were considered permanent losses, but the other damaged and sunk battleships were salvaged and sent to the West Coast for repairs and reconstruction. Nevada and Pennsylvania received entirely new superstructures with revised secondary armaments of 5"/38 DP guns in twin mounts, as well as numerous new 20mm and 40mm AA guns. Tennessee, California and West Virginia were even more thoroughly rebuilt, incorporating not just changes similar to Nevada but increased deck armour, torpedo bulges and improved subdivision and a modern radar and electronics suite, though their widened beam exceeded the Panama Canal restrictions which limited their operations to the Pacific. Maryland, Colorado, and the three New Mexico class ships were too urgently needed in 1942 to undergo similar rebuilds. Most changes to these ships focused on updating their radar suites and expanding their light AA armaments, though Idaho would receive an updated secondary battery of 5in/38 guns in late 1944 and Maryland received a partial rebuild that was completed in August 1945 just as Japan surrendered.

The ten surviving Standard Type battleships served throughout World War II primarily as fire support for amphibious landings. Their low speed relegated them to second line duties as they were too slow to accompany the fleet carriers that had become the dominant combatant. Six of them participated in the last battleship versus battleship engagement in naval history, the Battle of Surigao Strait, where none of them were hit.

Fates
Arizona and Oklahoma were sunk during the Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Their sister ships Pennsylvania and Nevada were used as targets in the Operation Crossroads atomic tests in 1946; Pennsylvania was not fully repaired after being severely damaged by a air-launched torpedo in the closing days of the Pacific War. In 1946 Mississippi was converted to a test vessel for new gun and missile systems and served until 1956. Most other Standard-type battleships were decommissioned in 1946 or 1947 and placed in the reserve fleet; ultimately all were scrapped by 1959.